Toulouse - The industrial participation obligations of Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer, in South Africa would be fulfilled by the end of 2010, Remy Moreau, the head of industrial participation, said yesterday.

Moreau said the company was talking to investors in Europe and the US to finance projects it had already identified.

He said about a third of Airbus's obligations had been met.

The obligations follow SAA's order of $3.5 billion (R23.25 billion) worth of aircraft from Airbus. The government requires investments worth at least about 30 percent of the purchase by a parastatal from a foreign-owned company " The company was working with four firms in Pretoria and one in Cape Town" .

The order is for 41 aircraft, 15 of which have not been delivered because the airline has decided to reconsider the order and wants to fit it into its future fleet plan. The two organisations are reviewing it.

South Africa, like more than 120 other countries in the world, has legislation that requires companies which supply state-owned enterprises with products worth more than $10 million to participate in the economic growth of the country through investments.

This year parliament heard that most foreign companies doing business with parastatals did not meet their obligations.

The government requires foreign suppliers to participate in the country's economic growth by investing in the export sectors or in value-added goods and services, creating jobs and supporting black economic empowerment.

Moreau said projects started under the programme in 2002, when SAA made the order, had a mix of aerospace-related sub-contracts, export promotion and investments and the new projects would be of the same nature.

The aircraft manufacturer was working with four companies in Pretoria and one in Cape Town under the programme.

These included Aerosund, which produces racks for electrical equipment for Airbus customers. Moreau would not say how much Airbus had invested in the project.

Other companies are AMS, a firm that produces software for airframe structure monitoring systems and Omnipless, which develops satellite communication systems.

Airbus had also helped establish a training centre for courses such as non-destructive testing methods.

With acknowledgements to Mzwandile Faniso and the Business Report.